Coaches’ Club seating area — essentiallythe best seats in the house with PSLs be-tween $20,000 and $30,000 — was heldin fall 2008, opening up the opportunityto all Jets fans to buy the best seats in thehouse. It was a tack never before taken bya sports franchise, and the club pocketed$16 million for 700 total seats sold in theauction, with some lucky fans gettingseats for far below the base rate.

prices on some Mezzanine Club seats in
half (from $400-500, down to $195-395,
plus PSL), allowing previous purchasers
the opportunity to cut their costs as well
as making the seats more attractive to
new buyers.

“We went on sale to the general mar-ket in late October with all remainingseats. We hit all of the different typesof seats that are available, from clubsand suites to the upper deck, which is anon-PSL zone,” Ciccone says. “We havea very loyal but diverse fan base. Peoplesaw different value for different seats, andwe try to hit all those wants and needs,from a marketing perspective. Whilethe marketing hits a broad market, theyall have one thing in common — theywant to watch football live, whether ina club seat or upstairs. It was importantfor us to have a ticket offer for everybody,especially as the economy changed. Wemade sure there are a lot of different pricepoints, and for our more expensive seats,we offered financing the PSL cost for upto 15 years.”Direct response was a huge factorin the effort, from a TV spot to a printcampaign to direct mail and all mannerof Web advertising, including E-mail, acall-to-action was a major part of eachoutreach. “Considering the economictimes, we believe the campaign has madea huge difference,” Ciccone says. “Ofcourse, it’s not a complete success untilthe entire building is sold out. But directresponse has allowed us to track what ourrespondents wanted, how our buyers cameto us, and allowed us to be very flexible.With every wave of the campaign, we’veseen enough ROI to cover more than theDR investment.”